


Cake

by Servalan



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Episode: s02e06 Twisted, Episode: s02e07 Parturition, F/M, Fluff, Food Fight, Light Angst, Silly, haircut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-11
Updated: 2019-10-11
Packaged: 2020-12-09 10:29:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20993321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Servalan/pseuds/Servalan
Summary: Chakotay helps Janeway out in only the way he can. Set at the end of Twisted. I’m not sure why I felt the need to “explain” the Parturition hair, but that’s where we are.





	Cake

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Manalyzer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Manalyzer/gifts).

> A surprise for Manalyzer who has been a wonderful beta but more importantly, a kind friend.
> 
> I cannot thank Janewayseyebrow enough for a lightening quick beta. You are a treasure!
> 
> CBS/Paramount owns these characters, I just write about them to make people smile and/or cry.

_ How did we get here? _

Chakotay asked himself this, smiling at the strange predicament the Captain found herself entangled, and not for the first time, he felt such warmth and admiration for her that he could barely contain himself. 

For the Jabillian fudge cake Neelix had made for Kes’s birthday was now firmly planted in the Captain’s hair, slowly changing its molecular makeup due to a rare chemical reaction when combined with her hair products. After shoo-ing a frantic Neelix out of her ready room, she stood at her desk with a pair of scissors in her hand, her other still clutching her shaking side. 

It had all happened so quickly: The encounter with their ship twisted, their destruction seemed assured, when all the alien had wanted was to say hello. The feeling that they’d cheated death elated them and the Captain had relaxed protocols so that Kes could finally enjoy her birthday party right there on the bridge. Kes had been admiring the locket Tom Paris had given her and asked Neelix for an old fashioned photograph to put in there, to keep him close to her heart. But Chakotay knew how deeply jealous the Talaxian had become, and true enough, it didn’t look much like an accident when Neelix had tripped with the cake into Paris’s chest. 

Paris, being the good natured sort that he was, had taken a good chunk off of his uniform and thrown it at Harry Kim, who caught it neatly. However when the hapless Ensign had overenthusiastically chucked the cake back towards Paris but had wildly under thrown, hitting the Captain in the back of the head, the entire bridge fell silent. Even Tuvok waited for her reaction. 

And what a glorious thing of wonder it was. For she put a hand to the back of her head, pulled it back to examine her blue frosting covered hand, and roared with laughter. Not the canned chuckles from the holodeck earlier, but real, deep belly guffaws.

He’d never seen someone radiate from laughter so much in his life. 

He’d never seen anyone more beautiful in his life.

He abruptly became aware that he must have an absurd grin on his face but not for the reasons she might think. 

“Sorry, I’m not laughing at you,” he said quickly. “It’s just I’m glad to see you in such good spirits,” he offered. He left out the part about being relieved she was alive after her own encounter with the alien barrier, left unconscious while the rest of them awaited their doom. How he’d wanted to take her hand then but felt he had to remain strong for the crew. The way she would have done, he thought ruefully.

“Neelix explained that this stuff won’t react any further and is of no concern to our digestive tracts,” she said, lowering her eyes and batting them skeptically, “but I’ve still got to cut the affected parts out.”

“Here, let me help you with this,” he said and to his surprise she nodded. She turned around and he carefully pulled the pins out of her hair around the damaged parts, but the rest of it still fell down around her shoulders. He gathered the salvageable hair in his hands and placed it over her shoulder, accidentally brushing the nape of her neck with his fingertips. She jerked forward and placed her hand on the desk and he could see it was all she could do to maintain her position. A small thrill rippled through his core, a warmth spreading throughout his body that he had not felt in a long time. This was as close as they’d ever been.

He smiled, knowing she couldn’t see him, and decided to help her relax lest she actually bolt. For his own part, he’d do his best to ignore the tiniest hint of freckles on her neck that made him want to kiss each one and…

“If those are neutral handed scissors, I’ll take them now,” he said, and she handed them to him, with no indication that she’d been bothered. She was certainly skilled at covering awkward situations, he mused, which made him even more attracted to her. He knew on some level this could not end well, but he’d committed thus far. 

“My sister used to get her hair all tangled up in knots when we were little. I was the only one she’d trust to only cut out the nests,” he said, gently gathering the afflicted strands and snipping carefully.

“She’s lucky. My sister would have shaved my head, given the chance,” she said, with a playfulness to her voice that sent his mind racing. What other facets of her life would she share with him today?

He cut the last spoiled part away and reached around her to place the scissors on her desk. She turned back around and reached behind her head with both hands, feeling that a good third of her hair was gone. She looked up at him and smiled. “Well fortunately I’ve never been vain. And it was certainly great to see the crew smiling once I was, not to mention the look on Harry’s face.” She broke into a wide grin.

He realized he had been so transfixed with her he hadn’t even glanced in Harry’s direction. He quickly switched the subject.

“Well, if this finally gets you in sickbay, I suppose this was all worth it?”

She cocked her head and looked at him quizzically.

“I mean, the doc can stimulate the regrowth of your hair follicles,” he explained.

“Oh I see,” she said, lightly chuckling, until her eyes narrowed as she saw that he’d been absently stroking the ends of her severed hair, something he just now noticed himself.

He cleared his throat and placed the hair down on the desk, perhaps too hastily. She chose to ignore that and instead picked up the discarded hair and placed it in the recycler. 

“Well Commander, I have a report to write, unless there was anything else?” She straightened and looked squarely at him. 

He shook his head no, and made way to leave, but not before noticing a certain look in her eyes that wasn’t there before, something akin to longing, loneliness, or something indeterminable. It was gone as quickly as it came on, deposited in the recycler along with the rest of her feelings.

He left to deal with his own, on his own.

_ How did I get here? _

**END**

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. Comments are very much encouraged and always answered (eventually.) :P <3


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